1. Field of the Disclosure
This disclosure relates to a liquid crystal display (LCD) device having improved reliability.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cathode ray tubes (CRTs), one of widely used display devices, are mainly used as TVs or monitors for measuring apparatuses or information terminals. However, the heavy weight and large size of the CRT have been major hindrance in the manufacturing of small and light electronic products.
As a solution to the above problem, LCD devices are gradually used in a wide range of application fields due to their advantages such as lightness, thinness, and low power consumption driving. Accordingly, the LCD device is being manufactured to have a larger screen, to be thinner, and to consume lower power.
The LCD device displays an image by controlling the amount of light transmitting liquid crystal. Since the LCD device is not a self-illuminating display device unlike the CRT, a backlight unit including a separate light source providing light is provided on a rear surface of an LCD panel to visually present an image.
The LCD panel is supported by a panel guide that is coupled to a bottom cover of the backlight unit. The LCD panel includes a gate drive PCB on which a gate drive unit for supplying a gate signal to a gate line is mounted and a data drive PCB for supplying a data signal to a data line. The gate drive PCB and the data drive PCB are electrically connected to the LCD panel via a chip-on-film (COF) that is connected to an edge of the LCD panel. Also, the gate drive PCB and the data drive PCB are electrically connected to a control PCB provided on a lower surface of the backlight unit via a flexible flat cable (FFC).
In a general LCD device, to protect the FFC from an external shock, a protection tape having a surface on which an adhesive material is coated is attached to an area corresponding to the FFC. In detail, the protection tape of a general LCD device is attached to a top case and a bottom case corresponding to a peripheral area of the FFC to cover the FFC.
However, since the protection tape firmly fixes the FFC to the bottom cover and the top case in the general LCD device, the FFC is restricted by the protection tape so that the data drive PCB connected to the FFC may be prevented from being moved. Thus, during a vibration test of the LCD device, short-circuit may be generated in the data drive PCB and the COF connected to the LCD panel, due to a shock by vibrations.